This invention generally relates to the stacking of elements and particularly to the stacking of products as they are ejected from a molding machine. The invention has particular utility with products or elements having a cooperative nesting feature whereby the products can be conveniently telescoped one with respect to another. The illustrated preferred embodiment has particular utility on products having a number of apertures to permit the handling of the products in the preferred manner.
Many types of products are formed in plastic molding machines. Particularly when the products are formed in injection molding machines or vacuum forming machines, it is common for a multitude of products to be formed simultaneously. As the formed products are ejected from the machine at the end of the forming process, the products often are merely permitted to fall from the machine into a large container for later handling either by hand or by apparatus to line and stack the products. In certain circumstances, apparatus has been employed for handling the articles as they are ejected from the apparatus in such a way as to permit the stacking of the formed articles in an ordered array. The ordered array may be grouped with other similar arrays and packed for shipping or directed to subsequent apparatus for additional operations such as printing, filling, etc.